ABSTRACT
In the period 1981-87, the arms control environment was characterized more by controversies over compliance with past agreements than by progress toward new limitations. The Standing Consultative Commission (SCC) is the vehicle for resolution of compliance problems arising from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaties and the main institutional model for dealing with compliance issues. To a lesser extent, the 1980s were also a time of controversy about other countries' compliance with multilateral arms control agreements. Many suggestions have been made for improving the process for resolving compliance disputes. The SCC and the bilateral consultative procedures of the Incidents at Sea Agreement are examples of mechanisms that have productively resolved compliance disputes, except, in the case of the SCC, when political relations have been most hostile. The compliance behavior of states that are parties to arms control treaties may have been poorer to some degree in the 1980s.
